At Fair Trade USA, we are building an innovative model of responsible business, conscious consumerism, and shared value to eliminate poverty and enable sustainable development for farmers, workers, their families, and their communities around the world. We are seeking a dynamic Business Development Manager to work remotely in Bentonville, Arkansas to be responsible for developing, cultivating and managing retail relationships in our southern region to identify opportunities where Fair Trade can add be integrated to drive value from producer to consumer.

Day-to-day, that means you will be (a) managing current relationships with retailers across channels including Walmart, Sam’s Club, HEB to name a few (b) cultivating new relationships with retailers, educating on the importance of Fair Trade, and figuring out how to make Fair Trade work for their business; (c) supporting private brand manufacturers and supporting the development of tools that help them sell their Fair Trade products; (d) work cross collaboratively with a number of departments within FTUSA to ensure retail strategy and goals are achieved.

Primary Responsibilities

Partner Acquisition:

• Work cross-functionally to refine, implement and measure strategies to support retailers, brands and private brand manufacturers.
• Develop strong relationships within retailers across multiple business units and levels; create sales opportunities from prospecting to close, which will include cold calling and making formal presentations. While communicating the business, social and environmental advantages of Fair Trade certification to various levels of prospective partners in a way that it is understood, valued and demonstrated.

Account Management:

• Support existing FTUSA retailers on day to day business needs, helping them to maintain and grow sales on existing items and programs
• Own the full life-cycle of the selling process using analytics to provide justification for opportunity pipeline to senior leadership
• Execute new strategic initiatives for the account or the assigned categories
• Support FTUSA to understand their individual contributions

Brand Building:

• Participate in industry conferences, tradeshows and meetings as representative of Fair Trade USA.
• Work with the FTUSA marketing team and our partners on promotions and tools to maximize customer purchase and awareness.
• Seeks out opportunities for new industry partnerships in order to build the Fair Trade brand.

Strategy Development, Implementation and Measurement:

• Demonstrate functional expertise in all facets of Private Brand & Branding via on-the-job development, educational and networking opportunities
• Lead the development, refinement, implementation and measurement of retail and account strategies
• Support collection and composition of the business case of Fair Trade with internal teams, syndicated data providers and FTUSA partners

Qualifications

Skills, Experience, & Knowledge

• Strong project management skills. Ability to manage multiple projects at one time and collaborate with your peers to achieve deliverables.
• Demonstrated selling success with complex programs and long-selling cycles. Knowledge in developing market acquisition strategy and implementation.
• Excellent customer service skills and ability to move at the speed of business. Strong verbal and written communication skills – excellent at following up on leads.
• Comfortable interacting with everyone from Fortune 100 (can access the C suite) to smaller businesses, brands and retailers. Strong public speaking skills.
• Comprehension of sustainable, economic, and social development programs and approaches.
• You believe deeply that most current approaches to the planet and its people do not work, and you want to make things better.
• Entrepreneurial spirit. Takes initiative to problem-solve and provide innovative ideas and program improvements.
• Confident individual contributor but excels at collaboration and working as a team player with your peers, and external constituents to deliver the best results.
• Proficient in basic computer skills, including Microsoft Office and Salesforce.
• Wiling to travel to meet with partners, attend trade shows and/ or industry events.
• Finally, you love the idea of bridging business strategy with sustainable development focused on the people and the planet.  You’ll have one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet – we’re impactful, we’re entrepreneurial, and we’re fun!

Education & Training

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business or equivalent experience required
• Minimum 4+ years of experience in retail or consumer brands working in corporate-level sales

Technology & Software

• Microsoft Office Suite including Excel and PowerPoint

APPLY NOW!